In May, the Biden Administration released a new Final Rule tied to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) increasing the salary threshold for certain exempt (salaried) employees. While faculty, teachers, instructors, coaches, and a range of other positions are unimpacted by this new Final Rule, it will prompt the assessment of many staff roles.
The increase in the salary threshold (one increase is effective July 1, 2024, and another on January 1, 2025) will likely result in more Drake staff being reclassified as hourly. Simply put, we will have more hourly staff moving forward than in the past. Employers across the country will be experiencing the same shift.
In assessing the impact of the Final Rule on Drake, we are proposing changes to the vacation policy (and we made some clean-up edits to the sick leave policy while we were at it).
For vacation, we are proposing eliminating the distinction in annual vacation allotments for non-exempt (hourly) and exempt (salaried) employees. The proposed annual vacation allotment for all full-time staff and vacation-eligible faculty is as follows:
| Annual Vacation Bank for Full-time/12-month Employees | |
| Years of Service | Annual Vacation Allotment |
| 0-14 Years | 160 hours |
| 15+ Years | 200 hours |
Both proposed policies are posted on the policy development page, per Drake’s normal policy review process. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please submit them through the policy development page or you can email drakehr@drake.edu.
Normally, we would have worked with a group on such edits, but the looming legal deadline of July 1, 2024 just did not allow for that. However, we can revisit these policies, as needed, based on the feedback we receive.
If your position is impacted by the new FLSA Final Rule, your manager will be in touch with you. We are still assessing positions and options and doing so as quickly as we can, given the tight timeline imposed by the Final Rule.
Visit our temporary FLSA website for more information. Please reach out to drakehr@drake.edu if you have any questions or comments.
— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources